Climate change, an economic threat
https://arab.news/722jz
In the past decade, Pakistan has faced catastrophic floods, droughts, heatwaves, cyclones, glacier lake outbursts, and other calamities, which have resulted in the loss of life and displacement of thousands of people, destroyed livelihoods and damaged infrastructure.
Every year, climate protection and risks are evaluated by Germanwatch, a think tank that monitors how countries perform in addressing climate change. In its 2020 report, Pakistan is the fifth most vulnerable country to the impacts of climate change. The report highlights that Pakistan has lost nearly 10,000 lives and suffered economic losses of $3.8 billion due to climate change-induced disasters in the past 10 years. The country’s vulnerability is also increasing.
Climate change is expected to have wide-ranging effects on Pakistan – from reduced agricultural productivity, through water scarcity, to coastal erosion and seawater incursion. In agriculture-dependent economies, these impacts can snowball the economic woes faced by the country and perpetuate the vicious cycle of poverty. Our economic stability is constantly threatened by catastrophes caused by the changing climate.
Appropriate early warning, education, land use regulations, infrastructure strengthening, and insurance instruments to reduce disaster-induced poverty traps can greatly decrease immediate and long-term losses from disasters.
Dr. Mehreen Mujtaba
There has been a global paradigm shift in disaster mitigation. Attention has moved from mitigation and response to financial preparedness. In Pakistan, after the 2010 and 2011 floods that displaced thousands of people, it was observed that the financing of the response was in most cases insufficient and unorganized.
Pakistan has a highly limited ex-ante disaster risk financing instrument, both at the federal and provincial levels. It also lacks a strategy to select and implement the most cost-effective instruments for different kinds of risk. Immediate action is required to strengthen the country’s disaster resilience by enhancing its financial preparedness. International initiatives should be encouraged to support disaster management in Pakistan by providing an insurance safety net for post-disaster financial support.
Also, appropriate early warning, education, land use regulations, infrastructure strengthening, and insurance instruments to reduce disaster-induced poverty traps can greatly decrease immediate and long-term losses from disasters.
Pakistan was seventh on the Global Climate Risk Index in 2018. In 2020, it is already fifth, which means that nothing much has been done to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The current and future climate risks and their consequences need to be understood at the individual, community and national levels.
An organized effort by the government at all levels is required to address the threat. Speeches alone will not change anything; the Prime Minister needs to walk the talk. He can show his commitment by divesting from fossil fuels, investing in alternative energy sources, and encouraging research into technologies that can help develop solutions to climate-related challenges.
*Dr. Mehreen Mujtaba is a freelance consultant working in the areas of environment and health.
